Location: Turkey (officially called the Republic of Turkey) is a large country in southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. Western Turkey is in Europe; this is Turkish Thrace, the small area west of the Bosporus (the strait connecting the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Marmara). East of the Bosporus is the much larger Asian part of Turkey, which includes muc of the vast Anatolian Plateau. Turkey is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, Greece, Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

Capital: Ankara is the capital of Turkey.

Size: Turkey covers about 783,562 square kilometers (a bit bigger than the state of Texas). Turkey is the 37th largest country in the world.

Population: The people of Turkey are called Turks. Turkey has the 17th largest population of any country in the world. The population of Turkey is about 77,804,122 (as of July, 2010).

Largest Cities: Istanbul, Ankara (the capital), Izmir, Bursa, and Adana.

Government: Turkey is a Rrepublic that is divided into 81 provinces. The national holiday is Republic Day, which is celebrated on October 29. Turkey emerged from the Ottoman Empire on October 29, 1923.

Language: The official language is Turkish.

Education: Girls in Turkey go to school for an average of 11 years; boys go for an average of 12 years.

Literacy Rate: About 87.4% of the adults in Turkey can read and write. About 95.3% of the men and 79.6% of the women are literate.

Turkey's Flag: Turkey's flag was adopted on June 5, 1936. It has a red field with a white crescent and a white star off center, slightly towards the hoist side (the side by the flagpole). The left-hand point of the five-pointed star touches the midpoint of the (invisible) line between the two horns of the crescent. The height of this flag is two-thirds the width. The Turkish flag is called "ay yildiz" (moon star).

Turkey became a republic in 1923. Most of Turkey is in Asia; a small part of northwestern Turkey is in Europe.

Although the crescent and star are traditional symbols of the Islamic religion, the crescent moon and star in the Turkish flag are said to pre-date Islam and are not meant to represent Islam.

Climate: Turkey has a temperate cimate; it has hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters. The interior has colder winters.

Terrain: The interior is a high central plateau (the Anatolian plateau -- in central and eastern Turkey); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges.

Major Rivers: The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers flow through Turkey.

Mountain Ranges: Taurus, Pontus and Koroglu Mountains.

Highest Point: The highest point in Turkey is Mount Ararat (5,166 m above sea level), located in eastern Turkey (near the border where Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran meet).

Lowest Point: The lowest point in Turkey is the Mediterranean Sea (bordering south and southwestern Turkey), at sea level.